The Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a qualified opinion of the operations of the Information Systems Office of the Department of Housing, related to the computerized information systems. A qualified opinion is issued when the instances of noncompliance, individually or in the aggregate, are significant but not pervasive.
The Report reveals that the application to maintain the records of accounts receivable and collections contains errors in the debt balances. Since 2015, the Department maintains the records related to the Section 8 and Trustee programs, the sale or rental of lots, and the reimbursements of the Community Development Block Grant program (CDBG by its acronym in English), in the application called RECAUDA.
From the examination performed, differences were detected in the balances in 18% of the 176 records with a value of $13,337,187, of accounts initiated from 2020 to 2022. In addition, in 21 records the balances in the contracts table were blank; in four records the balances in the transactions table were negative and in seven records the balances presented in the account statements did not correspond to the result of the main calculation. The erroneous information in the debt balances detracts from reliability and could delay the collection efforts.
The finding also reveals that, in 23 records of the individuals table, a valid number was not included in the “Social Security” field, but rather it was marked with zeros. These errors detract from the reliability of the information in the database used to identify the debtors.
The three-finding audit notes that, as of August 18, 2022, the Department had not performed the annual tests of the disaster-recovery plan. This situation may delay the processes to reestablish its normal operations should a disaster occur.
The auditors identified that as of July 5, 2022, the Department did not have a risk analysis. A similar situation had been noted in Audit Report TI-14-02 of 2013. However, at the conclusion of the audit, evidence was presented that corrects this situation.
The Report of the Department of Housing covers the period from July 1, 2020 to March 31, 2023.
Audit Report OC-24-21 can be obtained on our website: www.ocpr.gov.pr.
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